I had a date Sunday afternoon. It was a quick meeting for coffee at my local diner. It’s kind of nice to meet locally instead of running into Manhattan or doing the webdate thing.

I met this guy online. I’ll call him Sawyer. I decided to give all the guys that I refer to character names from Lost to protect their identity. I was supposed to have two dates this weekend, but one got postponed… something about a dying uncle blah, blah, blah. Just kidding. I was completely gracious and understanding when Hurley, date #1, had to cancel. Time will tell if he was blowing me off or had a serious emergency. I’m pretty sure it was the later.

Back to Sawyer. He and I spoke briefly on the phone to arrange the date. When we met at the restaurant, he was quiet and shy - my two least favorite qualities in a man. Don’t get me wrong, quiet and shy men make for wonderful dates for many women, but for me, those dates are too much effort. I always feel like I’m at work. Considering I spend a lot of my time at my job talking with people and helping them share their stories and feel comfortable, the only thing missing from my Sunday date was clocking in.

Actually Sawyer is quite the catch. He’s a medical technician, seems to be a great father, never married, stable environment and involved in his community. He will make for a great boyfriend or husband for some lucky woman. In these 18 weeks I’ve learned to be more comfortable with understanding what types of men work well for me and those who may be a fit for someone else. So I wish Sawyer well.

I emailed him this morning and told him so. And because I met him on an outside dating website, he knows nothing about my 52 Weeks project, so I can blog away and not feel like he’s going to read this… not that I’m saying anything bad about him.

I’ve also learned along the way that I have to tread carefully with the men that I meet directly from my 52 Weeks website. I’ve been in contact with some great guys. Things were progressing nicely and then I stop hearing from some. I know it has to do with the fact that the website is where I share very publicly about my dates (without revealing their identity), but these same guys are reading about my other dates or potential dates and it makes them uncomfortable. I’ve even had guys asking me how my other dates have gone – now that’s seriously awkward. So if you notice I’m being a little tight-lipped when describing a date, I’m trying to figure out how to navigate this whole kissing and not telling thing.

On one hand, I love this whole 52 Week project and have met more men in these last few months than I have in years. But on the other hand, I don’t want “my project” to ruin some potential relationships. So I hope you are patient with me as I tread carefully.

Well today I am off to a barbecue. There’s supposed to be over a hundred singles. So I’m not only looking forward to grilled hamburgers, but also meeting a potential “him” or two along the way.